Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $173.45.

TRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. National Bank Financial upgraded Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank raised Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $170.00 to $168.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 0.7 %

TRI stock opened at $166.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $74.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $167.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.73. Thomson Reuters has a fifty-two week low of $117.46 and a fifty-two week high of $176.03.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 33.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.146 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 41.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Thomson Reuters by 104.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Thomson Reuters by 7.1% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,314 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its position in Thomson Reuters by 27.0% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 1,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in Thomson Reuters during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its position in Thomson Reuters by 12.8% during the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 3,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Company Profile

Thomson Reuters Corporation engages in the provision of business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments.